By Matthew J. Webster , Staff writer Gloucester Daily Times
ESSEX - A proposal to store boats in a field off John Wise Avenue has prompted a discussion about how the town should make use of open land.
The Planning Board will hold a public hearing next week to consider granting a change-of-use permit for the 2.9-acre property next to Route 133, a parcel of land commonly known as "the Mugford property." The land sits in one of the most scenic areas of town.
The hearing begins at 7 p.m. on March 7 at TOHP Burnham Library. Skip Crocker, vice president of Crocker's Boat Yard in Manchester, is considering buying the land to store boats in the winter.
However, neighbors raised concerns before the Planning Board at the fire station Tuesday night to express their views prior to the public hearing. Neighbors said they were concerned about the appearance of up to 50 boats, the protection of wetlands, and traffic problems that could be created by a new business in what is now an open field.
Board members and the public agreed that Essex needs a long-term plan for open space if it intends to preserve its rural character.
Board Chairman Rob Fitzgibbon said if residents want to protect open space, they should attend the annual Town Meeting on May 7 and support amendments to municipal bylaws that would give the community a say in its future.
"In the Essex bylaws, there are no (zoning) districts, so everything is effectively classified as mixed use," Fitzgibbon said. "So if you don't like what your neighbor is doing with his property, there's nothing you can do about it."
Fitzgibbon said the board plans to prepare an article for Town Meeting that would change the wording of the town's zoning bylaw, adopted in 2002, so that an application is required to change the use of a lot.
The current bylaw requires an application only for the use of a building, so the board has no legal basis to prevent the establishment of a boat storage facility on John Wise Avenue.
"There has been an increase of interest and (commercial) activity along the Route 133 corridor to Ipswich," Fitzgibbon said.
The parcel at 160 John Wise Ave. is owned by a group called Essex Realty Trust. The names B. Mugford and J. Livermore appear on the town assessor's records as partial owners of the property.
At the Planning Board meeting, Adam Doyle of 168 John Wise Ave. said his parents own a quitclaim deed to a well on the Mugford property, and chemicals could leak out of boats and contaminate the wetlands.
Dottie Page of 170 John Wise Ave. said the storage of boats in her neighborhood would be an aesthetic and environmental issue.
"I'll look out my window and instead of seeing Hog Island, I'll see 50 shrink-wrapped boats," Page said.
Crocker assured abutters that he is accessible and that the boat storage business would not degrade the neighborhood.
Peter Kellerman, the owner of Alprilla Farm across from the proposed storage operation noted that streams and marshland on the Mugford property ultimately feed into protected wetlands.
"Right now, there is nothing to prevent a commercial property owner from coming in and building a mini mall," Kellerman said of the area, where Alprilla Farm has operated since 1670.
